The New Stark
by SnippyStark
Summary: An invisible girl finally gets noticed. The Starks adopt this girl. She has been living in the dark for most of her life. But after her parents death, their closest friends, the Starks, takes her under their wing. As she lives with them Janis uncovers pieces of her past and discoveries which she would never believe in a million lifetimes.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi everyone! This is my first story here. I ho** **pe you guys like it :D**

I've never flown before. Its been more than four hours that I have been on this plane. At first it was scary but where I was going eased my nerves. The Starks have adopted me and I'm on my way to their mansion in Malibu. Before we took off I had a Video Chat with Tony. He said that there aren't really any important rules except for having fun, but not with a bunch of boys. I laughed when he said that because all of the boys I knew where back at the boarding school. The attendant on the airplane came up next to me asked, "Would you like something to drink?"

Her voice was soft and sweet. Unlike the Headmaster's from my boarding school whose voice was harsh and deep, considering the Headmaster was a female.

"An ice-tea would be nice, thank you," I replied looking up at her. The attendant walked over to James Rhodes, or Rhodey, and asked the same thing to him. Rhodey was Tony and Pepper's nickname for him. When I first met him he made it clear that he was only protecting me since Tony was too busy with his work. He also said that it would be dangerous for Tony to fly out long distances because there had multiple attempts at his life and didn't want to risk something happening.

"Here you go Miss. Russell," the attendant said handing me my glass of ice-tea.

"Thank you, and please, just call me Jan," I said grabbing the glass and taking a sip out of it. I didn't like it when people would call me Miss. Russell. There was nothing special about me. I was just another ordinary girl. I'm still trying to figure out why the Stark's even thought about adopting me. I have major talents, the thing I do best is playing instruments and some technology advancements. I play sports but it's not enough to get me a scholarship or anything special like that. There aren't very many people who can make a computer out of junk though. But why would they care if I could do things like that? I'm probably not the only person in the world to do that right?

"Are you enjoying the flight?" Rhodey asked snapping me out of my train of thought.

"Yeah, getting a little antsy though. I kind of want to be on solid ground again," I stated.

"Don't worry you will be soon enough."

It was about another 30 minutes before we finally landed in California. I quickly gathered up my stuff and put it in my backpack. Rhodey was waiting for me by the door of the plane.

"You excited?" he asked. I nodded in return. He walked out first down the stairs that were connected to the plane. I then followed him down finding a smiling Tony Stark at the bottom of the stairs. I saw him shake Rhodey's hand and wrap an arm around him hugging him. I started to walk toward Tony unsure of what to do.

"Hello Miss. Janis, how was your flight?" he asked. I was about to reply when a wave of heat and metal hit my back knocking both Tony and I to the ground. There was a sharp pain in my leg and I looked and saw a piece of the plane had cut into it. I looked up to see what was left of the plane engulfed in flames.

"No," I said.

"Jan come on we have to go, it's not safe here," he said his voice a little shaky. He picked me up and I winced. He started walking to the car where there was a man standing next to it waiting for us.

"Where to sir?" he asked opening the door. Tony set me down gently in the backseat of the car.

"Hospital, now." Tony got in next to me lifting my head up off the seat and putting it down on his lap. I could feel something dripping down my leg so I got up a little and looked. There was little pool of blood on the leather seat beneath my left calf. When I lifted it I winced in pain and noticed that it had become swollen. Tony noticed the blood and he took his jacket off and wrapped my leg in it.

"Ow," I hissed as he tightened it.

"Sorry but it's going to hurt until we get to the hospital," he kept pressure on my wound until we pulled in front of the hospital. He got out and picked me up. I saw a trail of blood dropping behind me. A nurse ran up to us and Tony told her I had a gash in my leg. The nurse then turned and Tony followed her down the hall. My vision started to get blurry and then it turned to blackness.

My eyes fluttered open and I looked at my surroundings. I was still at the hospital but I was now in a gown and my leg was wrapped. Tony was pacing back and forth talking on the phone. He looked up at me, "...go ahead and send a few. She's awake now, I have to go."

He came and sat down next to me careful not to touch my leg.

"Are you feeling ok?" he asked worry in his eyes.

"Yeah, how long do I have to stay here?" I asked not wanting to be here long.

"The doctor's going to come in and check on you soon. But I don't suspect that you will be here for long." I was relieved to hear that. I was anxious to go home, but the problem was I didn't know where my home was. I didn't know much about my family besides the fact that they're billionaires. Tony is a genius and his wife Pepper is the CEO of Stark Industries.

The doctor walks in looking at his clipboard adjusting his glasses while he reads.

"Alright Miss. Russell, are you feeling light headed at all?" he asked.

"No, not really. What happened to my leg?" I asked. The question in itself sounded stupid but I wanted to know.

"You had a large piece of shrapnel from the plane in there. It will take a couple weeks for it to heal fully but you can go home within the hour and get some sleep. You will need it," he said setting the clipboard down. I relaxed a little bit, knowing that I won't be in the hospital for long. The doctor started talking to Tony and then left.

"Once Happy comes, we can leave. Your clothes are on the stand next to your bed. See you in a bit," he walked out and closed the door. I slowly lifted my leg and got out of bed. I put my weight in my right foot and hopped over to my clothes. There was a new clean pair of jeans folded under my shirt. I changed and hopped over to grab my shoes. Once I was back sitting on my bed I put my shoes on and sat there looking around the room. There was a pair of crutches leaning against the far wall. _Great_ I thought _they're making me walk all the way over there._ I got up and accidentally put weight in my left leg. I cried out in pain sitting back down on the bed. Once I recovered I made my way to the crutches again. Just as I got to them there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," I said grabbing the crutches and placing them underneath my arms.

"We're ready to leave when you are Miss. Russell," the man said. It must have been Happy. He was tall and a bit on the overweight side.

"Ok, lets go."

We walked out to the lobby where Tony and Rhodey were talking. They both looked over at me; a smile was growing across Tony's face.

"There she is. You ready?"

"Yup," I said walking past them following Happy. "Well come on slow pokes."

"Who are you calling a slow poke?" Tony asked.

"You," Rhodey said laughing. I turned around and looked at them. Rhodey was walking towards me while Tony was still standing there with a blank face. We got in the car and made our way to Tony's house.

I felt a nudge on my shoulder and I looked up from my phone. Tony smiled and I followed his gaze to a large white house sitting on the edge of a cliff. There were security guards surrounding the place.

"What's with all of the guards?" I asked.

"There have been attempts on my life, like you witnessed today, and Pepper insisted that we get guards just to be safe."

"Where are the guards from?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D." he said, "my dad was one of their agents before he got killed and I was supplying their weapons until 19 years ago."

"Why did you stop?"

"Well I spent some time in an Afghan cave and I saw the harm my weapons were doing against innocent people. I lost a good man that day."

"I'm sorry," I said. The car pulled up in front of the main doors and there was a redhead waiting for us outside. Tony got out of the car and reached a hand out to help me out. Once I was out I grabbed my crutches and made my way toward Pepper. Her hair was up in a ponytail and a giant smile pasted on her face.

"Hello Jan," she said reaching out for a hug. I did the best to try to hug her back but it was hard with crutches. She pulled back, her hands still on my arms, and smiled. "I'm happy you guys are ok. Tony called me when you guys to the hospital. I was worried sick."

"We're all fine. Just a cut on my leg, nothing more."

"Just a cut? Hun, you have to use crutches, I'm pretty sure it's more than that." I laughed and we started to make our way inside. Happy was following us with my back pack. _Right, no real clothes_ I thought. I had a spare change of clothes in my bag. At least I had my P.J.'s.

"Happy is going to take your ba-" she paused, "I thought you would have more than one bag."

"I had three and then they got destroyed because of the explosion."

"Ah, well Happy is going to bring that to your room while we can have some girl time," she said and we both laughed. She started to make her way to a staircase, one going up and another going down.

"Over there's the living room if you couldn't tell then up there are the bedrooms and down here," she said walking down the staircase, "is Tony's lab. If you put this combination in..." She pressed four numbers and a picture of me showed up. "This code allows you to go anywhere that needs a passcode. Tony never keeps this place in tact so I have to come down here every once and a while and pick things up. Tony said he had something to tell you right?" I nodded. In the video chat we had before I took off on the plane he did tell me he had a surprise for me. "I'll have him tell you then." She smiled and started heading out the door back up the stairs. We walked passed the living room and walked into what looked like a kitchen and dining room. There was a long counter against the back wall and a counter parallel to the one along the wall. It was very white and bright from the sun coming in through the windows and reflecting off of everything.

"You can get to the pool through those doors and that's about it," she said. I nodded and couldn't help but smiling. She looked down at her watch and said, "Dinner's in about two hours so you're free to do whatever. Oh Tony wanted to see you when he got back from his meeting. Go down to his lab in about 30 minutes or so, he'll be down there."

"Ok. Quick question, what are we going to do about my clothes?" I asked.

"If you write down your size and preference in clothing I can send someone out and get some for you." Pepper reached in the folder she was holding and grab a pen and paper. I wrote them down and gave it back to her.

"I'm going to go up to my room, call me if you need me!" I smiled and slowly made my way back up stairs. Once I walked into my new bedroom I realized that it surely was a lot bigger than the one I had back at the boarding school. In the middle of the room was a king size bed and on the far end was a couch and T.V. screen. Over by the couch was a glass slider that went out onto a balcony over the cliff. I made my way over to my bed and flopped onto it, throwing the crutches on the floor. I quickly shot up in pain from the impact my injured leg had on the bed and bit my lip to keep from crying out. Tears started to form in my eyes and I quickly tried to blink them away. I tried to get up but the movement hurts it even more. I sit on the edge of the bed and reach down to grab my crutches. Slowly, I make my way back downstairs to find Pepper.

She was sitting on the couch on her computer surrounded with papers.

"Hey, Pepper, do you have any pain meds?" I asked. She looked up and nodded.

"Yes, I do. Just wait right here and I'll get it for you," with that she got up and walked away.

I was standing there for a few minutes and then I saw her walking back with a glass of water and two pills. She handed it to me and I swallowed the pills then drank the water.

"Thanks," I said handing the glass back to her.

"Tony's here if you want to see him. He's down in his lab doing, whatever it is he does."

"Ok, I'll make my way down there." I wabbled down the stairs to his lab and put my code in once I got to the door. I heard a hiss and pushed it open. Tony was sitting at his desk working on what looked like a metal helmet. He looked up from what he was doing and smiled at me.

"Hi Jan, your leg doing alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, its fine. Pepper just gave me some pain meds."

"That's good," he said getting up and grabbing something off his desk. "Hold out your wrist for me." I stretched out my hand and he put on a cloth bracelet that felt a little stiff to me.

"I made it from a special cloth that's hard to tear. So you can wear it whenever," he tied the ends and then smiled at me.

"Thank you, I love it. I can't believe a guy like you made this," I smirked studying the bracelet.

"That's not all. I have something else to show you. Close your eye for me please," I closed them then started to slowly opened my left eye. "Hey, no peeking."

"Aw, you're no fun," I pouted and smiled. I could hear him walk over to something and then I heard something opening. He footsteps started to get louder and I could tell he was walking back over to me.

"Ok, open," he said. Once I opened my eyes I didn't notice anything at first but then I noticed there was a bright light coming from the right. I turned and four metal suits shaped like a man. _Iron Man,_ I thought. My mouth opened wide.

"Yes, I am Iron Man, but the public doesn't know that yet. The only people who know are us, Pepper and Rhodey. Rhodey thinks the public should know but I don't think the time is right. All they know is that its Stark Industries property and just a bodyguard," he explained.

"That would make sense, but I do agree with Rhodey. The press aren't taking kind to being told lies, even though they tell plenty themselves," I read many articles about the mysterious Iron Man. Tony has made some many achievements that I wish I could do. I have the capability but the resources are way out of my reach.

"What is it with you people and having everything out in the open?" he asked.

"Sometimes its for the best. But hey, do what you want. It's your life and the press can't run it," I started to make my way over to the suits to get a better look at it. The way these were designed is incredible.

"We're going to have to get you a wheelchair so you can move around faster," Tony said, I could hear the smile in his voice. I was only a few inches away from one of the suits. There were only suits with red and gold paint. The other two were just silver. One of them looked like it was a prototype because of how rusted and beaten up it was. It also didn't look anywhere close to the other suits. Every suit had a blue light coming from a circle in the center of the chest.

"What's the circle?" I asked it sounded better in my head then out loud.

"Its an arc reactor. I have one in my chest keeping me alive and another one powering my company," he stated.

"Ah, I've read about them. How you used to build weapons and then suddenly switched to arc reactor technology. Is it used as a power source? Keeping you alive and other things running?" the nerdy me was coming out. Yay.

"Wow, never thought you would be this interested in it. Yes, the one in the suits and at my company is being powered by it. But as for the one in my chest, it's acting as a magnet. Keeping shrapnel away from reaching my heart."

"So it's an electromagnet?"

"Essentially, yes."

"How did you get shrapnel in you in the first place?"

"Afghanistan. I was there for a weapons demonstration and we got attacked as we were leaving." He looked down as if the memory hurt him. I'm sure it did considering the scar it left him with. I wondered how he escaped and why he was attacked. But I will leave those for another time.

"So, you like it here so far?" he asked looking back up at me with a smile on his face.

"Yes, this place is amazing," I smiled. Then I saw something move in the back ground. It looked kind of like a robotic arm. "What is that?" Tony turned around and saw what I was pointing at.

"Oh, that's You. My pet robot. Dummy is around here somewhere, that's the other one. I've had them since I was in college. Made them for a project and they've been with me ever since."

"Back at the boarding school we weren't allowed to build things for our own pleasure. But I never listened. I had so many things I wanted to show you but the stupid plane exploded and destroyed it all. I had this new bag I was working on. It was suppose to be and indestructible bag but I never finished the prototype for it," I finished. Tony was awe struck. I laughed a little bit from his facial expression. "What? What's wrong?"

"I never thought a teenage girl like you would do that. You look like the type who is more into their phones and gossip than anything else. But knowing all that, that's incredible. I didn't know other teens had that potential." When he said those last words it didn't seem like he was that shocked. I didn't let it faze me though. Too much going on to think about something that stupid.

"Huh, glad I made a good impression," I stuck my tongue out at him. Suddenly Pepper came in through the door.

"Tony, Fury wants to see you," she said.

"Fury? I told him not to bother me this week."

"Well, the plane changed that."

"Who's this Fury and what does he have to do with the plane explosion?" I asked looking back and forth between Pepper and Tony for answers.

"You'll find out soon. Come along," Tony said walking to the door.

"Hey, I can't really walk all the fast ya know, injured leg and all," I said motioning a hand to my left leg. Tony nodded, "Right," walked up to me, "grab your crutches." He reached down and scooped me up. Pepper was holding the door for us and we made our way upstairs. The way Tony was walking made me laugh so hard my stomach hurt, but it suddenly stopped when we go to the top and there were men in suits standing with a straight face.

"Director Fury," Tony said setting me on the ground. The black guy with the eye patch nodded and simply replied, "Mr. Stark."

"How can I help you?"

"Only making sure my favorite man in armor is alright. As well as his new daughter of course." I raised an eyebrow at him and laughed.

"I'm sorry but that surely can't be the reason why you came. Just judging from all the men surrounding you," I said.

"You're right Miss..."

"Russell. But I would prefer Jan," I replied. This man was very serious. Whatever he came for was very important.

"She's very smart, no wonder why you like her. But, like she said, I did come here for something. Something that little ears can't hear."

"Excuse me, did you just call me little?" I asked making my way closer. Clearly that was a bad idea because almost every guard there raised a gun at me. "I have every right to listen as do those people."

"We understand Miss. Russell but these things are important-"

"Just let her listen. She's fine," Tony said cutting off the white guy in the suit standing next to Fury.

"Alright. We think that you need more protection. The events at the airport show that we need to take every precaution into knowing that you and your family is safe," Fury explained.

"What do you have in mind?" Tony said. We all made our way to the couch and sat down. The guards forming a half circle in the back.

"Well, I was thinking of stationing Barton here but he is away on a mission. So I'm placing Coulson here until Barton returns, which will be in a few days or so," Fury said.

"Doesn't seem so bad. What else do you want?" Tony rested his elbows on his knees.

"We want you to have the press conference next week," Coulson said.

"What? I thought we weren't going to do it," Tony exclaimed.

"Or we could have it tomorrow, your choice."

"Next week."

"Ok, we already have a speech prepared for you so you don't have to worry about what to say. Remember that all the public knows is that Iron Man is just a bodyguard in a suit. And that's all they will know for now."

"Alright, looks like my work here is done. Barton will be here no later than Friday. See you later Stark," with that Fury got up and walked out of the door with his group of soldiers.

"So, that extra room ready for me?" Coulson asked.

"Uh, no. That's Jan's room. You get the couch," Tony said patting him on the shoulder and walking back down to his lab. I followed him down as best as I could.

"Anything I can help you out with?" I asked as I walked through the door.

"Not at the moment, but if you want you can mess with the Iron Man helmet. I can't figure out why the sensors aren't working on it," he said pointing to it with a pen. "Think you can figure it out for me?"

"Sure," I said grabbing the chair and pulling it next to the table. I looked inside the and I saw a little light flashing. It was a red light and as I looked closer there were other bulbs just not lit up.

"Uh, Tony, does the light mean anything?" I said with a look of worry on my face.

"Those mean that something's wrong or that I have a voicemail. But I'm pretty sure no one left a voicemail when I was fighting," he said. I nodded and went back to the helmet. I traced one of my fingers over the blinking light and it turned off. _What the,_ I thought.

"Fingerprint recognized, hello Miss. Russell." I nearly dropped the helmet when I heard that.

"What the-"

"That's J.A.R.V.I.S. He's my artificial intelligence. And he just got your finger print so you can now access the suits. But only for emergencies." He said the last part very sternly, making sure I didn't miss the last part.

"Can I try one out for the heck of it?" I asked bouncing with excitement.

"When you get better, I don't want you to get hurt even more than you already are."

"Ok, fine," I turned around flipping my hair at him and hopped of the seat grabbing my crutches. "Call me if you need me." I smiled and made my way back up to my room.

I flopped on my bed being careful this time not to hurt my leg again. I layed there for a few minutes noticing that everything was white and very boring.

"Hey JARVIS?" I said feeling like I was talking to air, which I really was.

"Yes, Miss. Russell?"

"Could you put on some alt. rock music? It's getting a little quiet in here."

"As you wish." A Coldplay song started play and I sat up. I reached for my bag and pulled out my laptop and my phone.

"At least I didn't lose you guys," I said to myself. There were three missed calls from one of my closest friends back at the boarding school. I sent her a text wondering what was so important. I sat it back down knowing that it would take her a while to reply. As I waited, I searched the web for new room decor. Nothing screamed "Buy Me" as I looked. Eventually I gave up and decided that a few minutes of rest would be the best choice for me.

I woke up to the evening sun shining through the window onto my bed. _Did I really sleep for that long,_ I thought. Oh, it was only an hour, I forgot about the whole short days longer nights in the winter. And the whole part where there was no snow here, that was going to take some getting used to. I got up and made my way downstairs. Pepper was on the phone walking around and Tony was sitting on the couch tinkering with something.

"Morning sleepy head," Pepper said hanging up her call. "Rhodey's on his way over to have dinner with us and the pizza is on its way."

"Ok, I'll go make myself semi presentable," I hobbled back into my room and found my phone going off. I looked to see who was calling and saw one of my closest friends calling me.

"Hello," I answered.

"Omg you're alive!" she screamed. I quickly pulled the phone away from my ear. "I've been trying to reach you all day, are you ok? Did you get hurt? Please tell me you didn't hit your head and lose your memory."

"Summer I'm fine, while kind of. No, I didn't lose my memory, but I did get hurt. A piece of the plane hit my leg, had to go to the hospita-"

"Jan, oh my gosh, do I need to beat someone up? Just tell me who and I'll be there in a jif."

"Summer, we don't even know who did it so just calm down. Oh, I have to go Tony's calling me. I'll talk to you later," I said making my way to the bathroom.

"Ok, you better. I miss you Jan, and take care of yourself," I could hear how worried she was in her voice.

"I miss you too. And don't worry, I will." Once I hung up I used one of the hair ties on my wrist and put my hair in a braid. Then I made my way downstairs to have dinner with my new family.


	2. Chapter 2

It's a new day in the Stark household. The sun was just above the horizon letting in the morning light. It's been almost two weeks since I moved in here, and I'm loving this place more and more with each passing hour.

"Good morning Miss. Russell," JARVIS said.

"Mmm, morning JARVIS," I said, stretching and rubbing the sleep from my eyes. "What's Tony up to?"

"He's waiting for you to come down to his lab."

"Really? Let him know I'm up and gonna be down there soon," with that I got up and changed into one of my new jeans and a t-shirt. I ran down to Tony's lab and unlocked the door running, excited to see what he will teach me. For the past couple of days Tony has been showing me his Arc Reactor technology. He told me why he has the one in his chest. And that it was his own weapon that caused it. Tony also told me about how Iron Man was started. All that he did in that cave in Afghanistan can change things that we do today. He told me that he has a tower in New York running on the Arc Reactor. If most major companies used that for energy, then the world would be a lot cleaner.

"So what are we doing today?" I asked.

"At them moment, you're going to go and eat your breakfast, missy, then I'll tell you what we are doing," he said not looking up from his work.

"Ugh, fine," I'll be back. I went upstairs to the kitchen and opened the fridge grabbing a yogurt. I grabbed a spoon and ran back down stairs.

"Back so soon?" Tony asked, not looking up from his work again.

"Yeah, just grabbed something small," I hopped on the couch he had and started eating. Once I finished, I put the cup down and grabbed the Iron Man helmet that was on the coffee table. I looked at it from all angles and there was a blue light on the edges making it expand. I shrugged wondering what harm would come if I tried it on for just a second. So I put it on and once I heard it close there was a display of the room with different gadgets on the side of the screen.

"Do you like it?" I heard Tony ask. His voice sounded different in here, more synthesized.

"This is...amazing," I was awestruck. Never have I dreamed of wearing Iron Man's helmet let alone live with him. Tony did some sort of motion and something flew over and landed on my right arm. Once it was on I realized it was an Iron Man hand. I moved my fingers around and faced the palm up showing the repulsor.

"Ooo, be careful where you point that," he said with a look of worry in his eyes.

"I know how it works, don't worry," I kept on moving my fingers around watching how easily they could move without any pain.

"How did you make the hand come on me?"

"I have micro sensor chips in my arms," he said.

"Ouch, wouldn't that hurt to have those put in?" I asked making a face he couldn't see.

"Mr. Stark complained about them when he was injecting himself," JARVIS said I laughed and Tony gave a glare. Apparently JARVIS was linked to the suit, and it makes sense considering all of the things I saw before my eyes. There were different weapons available to use, it can be used as a phone, connected to S.H.I.E.L.D., and all this I got from just looking at the icons on the side. Suddenly I heard this beeping along with a light flashing and a face appeared in the corner of the display.

"Stark, we need to-" Fury said. "You're not Stark."

"Thanks for stating the obvious," I replied.

"Get me Stark."

"Woah, woah, woah, Fury that's Janis, remember, and whatever you want the answer's no," with that the man disappeared. Tony must have turned the video call off from his desk.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"That was Director Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. you remember him from a couple days ago, right? Well, sometimes he needs Iron Man to come in on a mission and I normally go, but not today. Today its just goin-" he got interrupted by Shoot to Thrill. It was another call from Nick, but soon the call went away and I assumed Tony had something to do with it. But I didn't really care. Tony did another motion with his hands and pieces of metal started flying to him. Even the armored hand I had flew toward him, pulling me off of the couch The helmet came off as well. Soon, there was a fully armored Tony standing in the middle of the lab.

"That was pretty cool," I said walking around and taking a better look at the armor. I could hear the armor powering up and then Tony started hovering around the room. I had to bite my lip to hold back a smile. "This is literally the coolest thing I have ever seen."

"Glad you like it, want a ride?" he asked. His voice sounded so synthesized through the helmet. I jumped up and down like a little kid waiting to get candy. When I was in mid-jump, Tony flew over caught me and flew out of the lab. A big smile started to creep on my face, but it was hard to keep it there considering the fact that I was scared out of my mind too. My hair was blowing in my face, making harder to see. Soon, he stopped and I looked down, seeing the ocean beneath us. It was nerve wrecking to see how high we were. I tried to let go of one hand to move my hair out of my face, being slow and cautious about my movements.

"Jan, you don't have to worry, I've got you. You won't fall." Tony's comforting words eased my mind a little bit, but I was still nervous about how high we were. I finally got my messy hair tamed and I could finally look around. To my right was the house, which I never realised how much it was hanging over the cliff. To my left was an endless ocean.

"This is really great. Thanks for taking me up here," I said smiling.

"Anything for you Jan," I could hear the smile in his voice even through the synthesizing speakers in the helmet.

"Can we fly some more?" I asked not being able to contain my excitement.

"Sure, hang on," his grip on me got tighter and I clung to him again. He took off, flying close to the cliff and I turned to see where we were heading. Soon I began to loosen my grip; we were going slow enough that I could do that. I let go all the way and leaned back stretching my arms out. Tony moved me so I was underneath him facing the water. I bent my arms back and out, flying like Peter Pan.

Tony got close to the water, so I reached a hand down and ran it through the ocean, making a wave go out. I laughed thinking about how incredible this is and how lucky Tony was. We flew back up and circled around to the house, landing on the roof. He set me down and I went to the edge, sat down, and let my feet hang over. Tony came and struggled to sit down next to me. He took off his helmet and put it between us.

I picked it up and put it on, then I put my hands on my hips and with a mocking voice I said, "I am Iron Man." Tony and I both laughed and I rested my elbows on my knees looking around as the helmet scanned everything. But I was leaning too far forward and started to fall off of the edge. I turned around to grab it but my grip wasn't tight and I started slipping. I felt a metal hand grab me and pulled me back up.

"Don't worry, I've got you," once Tony said that I grabbed him and hugged him, breathing heavily in his chest. He took the helmet off of me and set me on his lap comforting me. We sat there for a few minutes just staring out into the open.

"How about we go back inside, yeah?" With that he gave me his helmet and I hugged it as he picked me up cradling me as he flew back inside.

Once we were inside I saw Pepper standing in the middle of the lab hold papers in her hand.

"What were you guys doing?" Pepper asked.

"Jan wanted to have a ride, so I gave her one," Tony said.

"Flying around was amazing," I said leaving the small detail of nearly falling off of the roof out

"Tony!" Pepper hit him in the shoulder. "She could've gotten hurt again."

Tony cupped her head in his hands, "But she didn't. She's not going to get hurt when she lives with Iron Man." He smirked and I quietly made my way up to my room so I could get some time to calm down from flying around. Once I got to my room, I grabbed a blanket that was in the closet and hopped on the couch turning on the TV.

"Any good shows that the Stark's watch JARVIS?" I asked flipping through the channels.

"The Stark's normally watch the news," JARVIS replied.

"I wonder why," I said dryly. " Where are the movie channels? Maybe there's something good on there." The channels changed and I scrolled through, finding a movie.

A few hours later I woke up to the end credits of some movie and JARVIS calling out my name.

"Ugh, what do you want," I said groggily rolling over and shoving my head in the pillow.

"Mrs. Stark has requested that I remind you to try on the clothing she has purchased for you. They can be retrieved in the living room," JARVIS explained, I honestly didn't want to get up, but 'tis life. I straightened up my clothes and went downstairs. When I got there Pepper was on her laptop typing away.

"Hey, Jan," she greeted without look up from her work. "Have some more clothes for you. Most of them are skinny jeans and sweatshirts, like you wanted, but I also got some more professional clothes, in case you go to a press conference with us, like the one coming up Friday."

"Oh, ok. You did all this in 2 hours?" I asked.

"You learn to do things fast when you live with your fa- I mean Tony."

"What's with the snow gear? Its not like we have three feet of snow on the ground," I did a weak laugh and Pepper looked up.

"Oh, Tony wanted me to get that, I'm not sure why but he said he had something planned later today with you two and Rhodey."

"What about you? Don't you want to come along as well?"

"Oh, I have too much stuff to do. And besides, I'm not really into what the boys do." She got up and walked over putting a hand on my shoulder, "As long as they're ok, I won't worry. You'll keep an eye on them right?" Pepper asked walking down to Tony's lab.

"Yeah, I will. Don't worry, they'll be safe with me." I grabbed the bags full of clothes and made my way back up to my room to try it on. I tried a skirt and blouse on to see how it would look and it looked amazing. Pepper has a really good sense of style I thought. I changed back into my other clothes and looked at the few pairs of shoes she had bought. There was a pair of black wedges and black combat boots. I asked her to get the boots. I finally went to the biggest bag which had all the snow gear.

"Jan," Tony called over the intercom.

"Yeah," I replied.

"Put on your snow gear, we're going to be leaving once Rhodey get's here."

"Ok, be down in a few."

I picked up the coat and held it up. It was blue and had a Stark Industries logo on the left side of the coat. The pants were just plain black. The snow boots were black as well. I put the snow pants on and then tied up my boots, grabbing the hat that was in the bag and put it on. Then I grabbed the coat and gloves and made my way downstairs. Tony was zipping up his jacket when I got to the living room.

"You ready?" he asked.

"Sure, as long as you tell me where we're going," I smiled at him.

"We're going somewhere where it has snow," I rolled my eyes at him.

"No dip, Sherlock. But, seriously, where are we going?"

"You'll see." Right when Tony finished his sentence Coulson came walking in a hurry over to us.

"Mr. Stark, I don't approve of you going out like this. You should be monitored at all costs so that what happened at the airport doesn't happen again," he said sounding out of breath.

"Don't worry Coulson, we'll be fine. The place where we are going is in the middle of no where," Tony stated.

"That's the problem sir, how close will guards be? What if something happens to all of you and none of us find out until days later," Coulson continued.

"Coulson, we'll be alright," Tony said trying to comfort the agent. It didn't seem to work. "We have you don't we?"

"What do you mean?"

"Coulson, you can come too if you're that worried about us," I could see Coulson relax a little bit after Tony said that.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Nana, now is the copter ready?" he asked as Rhodey was walking in.

"Ready when you are," Rhodey said.

"I'll grab my things and meet you outside," Coulson said walking away.

"Can we go out, please. I'm roasting," I begged.

"Sure. Rhodey, will you wait for Coulson?" Tony and I started making our way to the door.

"Oh, sure, I'd loved to Tony," Rhodey said crossing his arms and he started tapping his foot.

We walked out and over to the heli-pad with the waiting copter. The propellers were blowing everything around. I had to hold onto my hat so it wouldn't fly away as we got closer to it. Tony slid open the door and held out his hand to help me up. I tried to take a step but the snow pants didn't allow me to. I felt hands on my waist and got lifted up into the copter. Tony then followed behind me closing the door behind him. He handed me a pair of headphones. A few minutes later Rhodey and Coulson came out.

"Hey Phil," I said has he got in.

"Uh, his first name is Agent," Tony said correcting me. I saw Rhodey shake his head when he walked in and I just laughed.

"So are you going to tell me where we are going or not?" I asked Tony.

"You'll see when we get there." I leaned back on the seat frustrated that he wouldn't tell me.

After a while I finally dozed off and once I woke up the helicopter was landing in a snowy area. Rhodey was the first to get out, then Coulson and Tony. When I got to the edge Tony grabbed me and helped me down. Snowflakes started to land on me as I looked up into the grey sky. It started to get a little windy which made me cold. Well, colder.

"So, what next?" I asked walking over to Rhodey.

"Tony made these arrangements, I know as much as you do," he replied.

I looked over to Coulson to see if I could get some more info out of him. He just shrugged, "What he said."

"This way," Tony waved getting our attentions. We followed him for a quarter of a mile and then he stopped at a snow pile.

"Good job, you found California's smallest snow mound. Or maybe it's the largest," I teased. Tony reached down and grabbed a tarp pulling it up to show four snowmobiles.

"Ok, California's first all natural snowmobile," I smirked.

"Are you done?" Tony asked he sounded annoyed.

"Maybe."

"Yay, we have two Starks now," Coulson stated.

"I don't know if I should take that as a compliment or not," I said.

"Hey now," Tony said. "This is what I had mapped out," he pulled out something and then threw it on the ground. A hologram started to project out of it and it was a map with a red line in the middle of it.

"Its basically just a giant loop coming back here, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, the snowmobiles have a tracking system built in so we know where we are," Tony explained.

"This sounds like a mission, not a trip into the woods for the heck of it," I said.

"That's because it is," Rhodey said leaning close to me.

"Oh."

"Miss Russell-"

"Jan," I corrected Coulson.

"Jan, Mr. Stark wanted another pair of eyes to help us search the area," Coulson explained.

"Search the area for what?"

"Something that will get us closer to the guy who is trying to kill me," Tony said, "Now, are we going to go look or just stand around and talk about it?"

"One more quick question, why here in the middle of nowhere? No one would want to be here, not even a Yeti," I said making my way over to the snowmobile.

"My thoughts exactly but good ol' Jay found a heat signature similar to the one from the plane explosion. Do you need help starting your snowmobile?" Tony started to get off of his.

"No, no I'm fine. How hard can it be?" After I started it up I made my way to the front waiting for the others.

"There's first aid packs and other things for emergencies in the compartment under the seat," Tony said. The helmet had speakers in it so I could hear him clearly and not have to struggle over the sound of the motors. Tony took off and Rhodey was right next to him. Coulson and I were side by side behind them.

"So, Coulson, what exactly should I be looking for?" I asked.

"Something out of the ordinary," he replied.

"Well that helps," I mumbled. "Oh, why are you still with us? I thought the other agent was suppose to be with us last Friday?"

"Barton's mission is taking longer then anticipated," he replied.

It seemed like an hour had passed and we were getting close to the turn. Tony and Rhodey were further ahead of us because they started to race. I could see the colored shapes moving along the map.

"Careful, you're gonna run into something," I heard Coulson say.

"I know, I am," I looked up for a second from the map then looked down. I saw Tony's red circle make its way around the turn before Rhodey's green one. I looked up again to make sure I wasn't going to run into something, but as I did that an explosion on my left sent me and my snowmobile flying. I rolled down a few feet then noticed that the snowmobile was sliding down toward me. I rushed to get up and move out of the way. I barely made it. The snowmobile skidded to a stop a few feet past where I just was. Then I heard gun shots a few yards away and footsteps coming closer to me. I hid behind the snowmobile. The footsteps were getting louder as they got closer. Slowly I looked over to my left to see where he was. I turned back not seeing anything. As I did so I heard a click to my right and found a gun pointed at me. I scrambled to get up crawling away.

The guy grabbed my foot pulling me closer. I used my other one to kick him in the jaw. He staggered back a bit giving me enough time to get up and run.

"Coulson," I yelled. It didn't take long for the guy to catch up to me. I was in snow pants and didn't have very long legs to carry me far.

I yelled for Coulson again and got a response. At first it took me a minute to see him running towards me.

"Get down," he said. I dropped down on my stomach and saw him firing behind me. He lowered his gun and then bent down to my level giving me a hug. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little shaken up," I stated.

"Come on, we need to go look at what they were hiding." I started walking over to where the explosion first came from until I was stopped by a tug at my hood.

"You're not going anywhere, we need to get you to safety," Coulson said.

"Oh, come on Phil, I know you want to go look too," I pleaded.

"I do, but I can't afford to have you get hurt, Tony would kill me."

"Ugh, fine. I hope the Barton guy is more fun than you," I teased.

"Watch it," I could see a small smile dance on his lips.

"Is that a smile I see on the big bad Agent Coulson," I poked at him smiling.

"I am human you know," he stated.

"I'm not so sure about that. How 'bout a race to see?"

"You're on," with that he took off running. I caught up, I sticking close to him, following him most of the way because I couldn't remember the path for the life of me. We couldn't use the tracks from the snowmobiles because they were mostly covered by new snow. Staying close to Coulson was a challenge because of how slow he ran.

"You're a secret agent, aren't you suppose to be a fast runner?" I asked.

"Ha ha, very funny," he said between breaths, "being an agent is more about combat skills then sprinting."

"I see," as I said that I saw the helicopter coming into view. I picked up my pace leaving Coulson behind. When I finally got there I collapsed onto my hands and knees taking deep breaths as Coulson ran up to me.

"Took you long enough," I said smiling.

"I think I saw the others coming," he said between breaths. I stood up looking around and soon I could hear the engines getting louder.

A few minutes later they arrived and Tony quickly got off and ran toward me. He pulled me in close then grabbed my head looking around my face, "Are you ok? Did you get hurt?"

"I'm fine," I pushed his hands off my face.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, come on before we find out if there are more guys coming to find us," I said getting into the copter. The others followed suit, and soon we were making our way back home.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry I haven't updated recently. I swear I haven't left you guys. I might add another chapter later this week. Just to make up for it. Until then, enjoy!**

There was a loud bang and I quickly sat up with a magazine falling off my chest.

"What the-" I started to say looking around the lab. I saw Tony standing there with pieces of the Iron Man armor around him.

"Sorry," he said. I flopped back down on my back exhausted. Ever since the snowmobiling incident, for the past few days, I've been losing sleep. Lots of sleep.

"You know the press conference is in a couple hours, you two should start getting ready," Pepper said walking in the lab. I moaned and turned around hugging the throw pillow that was underneath me. Pepper laughed, "You're starting to become Tony."

"That bad or good?" I replied.

"Watch it," Tony threatened. I looked up and smiled at him.

"Well, I'm gonna go take a nice warm shower and get ready," I got up and walked to the door.

"About time," Tony said. I made a face at him then walked up stairs to my room.

As I was drying up my hair there was a knock at my door.

"Come in," I said wrapping the towel around my head and taking one last look in the mirror. I had an oversized sweatshirt on that went almost to my knees. It would work for the time being. I walked out of the bathroom and saw Pepper in the middle of the room.

"Hey Pep, what's up?" I asked walking to my closet.

"Just wanted to make sure you knew what to wear. Main thing is no jeans. Professional look," she explained.

"Sweet, what I had in mind works then," I said.

"Alright, is there anything I can get you?"

"Nope, thanks though. And you don't have to be my server. I can get things on my own," I smiled.

"Right, sorry. I just got used to doing it for Tony for so many years it becomes a habit," she said.

"And with Tony I'm sure you picked that up fast," we both laughed, "Well, I'm going to finish getting ready."

"Yes, I'll let you finish. See you in a bit," with that she left the room. I walked over to my closet and pulled out a dark pink pencil skirt, putting it over my arm, I walked over to my tops and grabbed an off white blouse.

When I was finished getting dressed I grabbed my shoes and purse and walked downstairs. As I was walking down I saw Tony and Pepper standing in the living room. Pepper was adjusting Tony's tie and fixing his hair.

"You cleaned up nice," Tony said.

"I can say the same for you," I smiled and Happy walked in the room.

"Your car is ready," he said.

"Thank you Happy we'll be out in a minute," Pepper said as she finished her work. Happy left to go back outside.

"Ready?" Pepper asked looking at me and then Tony.

"Haha, sure," I replied. We made our way out to the car and I saw Happy standing by the door. He opened it as we got closer and Pepper was the first to get in, then me, and then Tony.

It was about a 20 minute drive from the house to Stark Industries were the conference was being held at. As we pulled up to the main entrance there was a swarm of photographers and news reporters surrounding the car. Happy opened the door and Tony got out, smiling and adjusting his suit. He held out a hand to me and I took it as I got out of the car. He did the same with Pepper. Tony rested his hands on my shoulders as we started walking inside. There was lots of people yelling, "Mr. Stark, Mr. Stark," or "Mrs. Stark, Mrs. Stark," between the car and the entrance. Once we got inside we were ushered into a room that had two guards at the door. The room had a T.V. that showed what was going on on the other side of the door and couches in the middle facing each other. Rhodey was standing in the middle talking to a guard.

"Ah, you must be Barton," Tony said walking over to him.

"Yes I am sir," Barton said shaking Tony's hand. Tony put an arm around him and faced me.

"Barton this is Janis, my new daughter," Tony said gesturing a hand to me.

"Hi," I said.

"Nice to meet you," he said stretching his hand out to shake mine

"Likewise," I replied shaking his hand.

"Here you go Mr. Stark, and remember try to stick to them," I heard Coulson next to me. When I looked over I saw him handing Tony some notecards.

"Hey. Where are you going after this? Since Agent Barton is here," I said.

"After the conference I'm heading back to H.Q." He said.

"Oh, ok. Cool," I walked over to the T.V. that was on and showed Rhodey introducing Tony. We all headed out there and there was a flash of cameras. Tony went up and began. For most of it I was zoned out and looking around. Then I looked up when he said "the truth is". He looked up from the note cards, "I am Iron Man."

There were gasps and cameras started to flash. Reporters stood up and threw question after question at Tony. Rhodey grabbed his arm and escorted him back to the room where we were before.

The hour we were there was not fun. Well, for me at least. I spent most of the time on my phone. Coulson and Tony were sorting out something for SHIELD. Rhodey came over and sat down next to me.

"This is so fun I can't contain all of my excitement," I said blankly.

"Yeah, Tony wasn't that thrilled about it," he said.

"Ugh, if I don't get any food I'm not going to be happy," I slouched against the chair I was on.

"Don't worry, I think you guys will be leaving soon."

"Thank God."

Turns out Rhodey was right, Tony called me over so we could leave. This time on the way back there were two cars with SHIELD agents in them. One in front of us and one behind us. We got to the house and Agent Barton was waiting by the door with someone standing next to him. They looked very similar but the other guy had strawberry blonde hair. Tony got out and helped Pepper and I get out of the car. We walked over to Barton and he introduced us to the other guy. He was apparently his son which would explain the resemblance between them.

"Name's Jack," he said.

"Janis," I shook his hand.

"So you're Stark's daughter?" he asked.

"Yeah. Well, adopted," I looked away. "Anyways, I'm starving. I need something to calm my hangriness," I walked to the kitchen.

"Hangriness?" Tony asked. I smiled at the question.

"You've never heard of it? Come on now I thought you were a genius," I smirked at Tony. "Its when you're angry because you're hungry. Now, if you boys will excuse me," I walked away to the kitchen grabbing a banana then heading to my room. I sat down on the couch, finishing my banana.

"Jay, can you put music on please?" I asked JARVIS. I picked up the Jay thing from Tony.

"The usual ma'am?" he asked.

"Yes sir."

Soon Love Runs Out by OneRepublic started to play. I changed into something comfy also putting my hair in a ponytail. By the time I was done Fall Out Boy was playing.

"Turn it up please," I said to Jay. He listened, the music slowly getting louder.

"She wants to dance like Uma Thurman, bury me 'til I confess," I started to sing. "She wants to dance like Uma Thurman, and I can't get you out of my head," by the chorus of the song I was dancing on my bed singing my heart out.

All of a sudden I hear a laugh at my door. I looked seeing Tony leaning against the frame smiling.

I stood there frozen.

"You're not a bad singer, but the dancing," he started.

I grabbed a pillow and threw it to him.

"Food's ready," he walked out with my pillow.

"Tony, give me my pillow!"


	4. Chapter 4

Tony and Pepper have been acting more like my parents everyday. Or have I just gotten used to having an adult figure? I still feel like I'm out of place, but I guess that's normal. Right?

"Tony, give it back," I ran down the stairs. He tossed it back to me. "Thank you, for your cooperation."

When my pillow was back in its place we sat down and ate. Agent Barton and his son were standing a few feet away while we were eating. Tony had his normal meal behavior. Tinkering with something for his suit while Pepper gave him looks. It was very amusing to watch. Although she never said anything, assuming she has in the past, Tony carried on his nonsense annoying his wife.

"So, how's it like back at SHIELD H.Q.?" I asked breaking the never ending silence.

No one said a word. "That bad huh?"

Finally Jack spoke up, "There isn't much to say. People buzzing around with reports of things." Barton gave his son a look.

I looked between them, "Am I not suppose to know? I mean it's not like I'm digging into your secret plans for world domination or whatever."

"SHIELD has no plans of that sort. If you would excuse us, Jack and I need to go check in with the other guards." Barton walked out with Jack close behind.

A few minutes later Tony and I went down stairs. I was helping him come up with some sort of invisibility setting for the Iron Man suits. Tony let me hack my way in the SHIELD files. They're Helicarrier had some sort of retro-reflection panels that allowed it to become "invisible" in a sense. It only acquired this at a certain elevation point but I was trying to use the blueprints they had to make the suits completely invisible at any point.

So far it was getting no where.

"I think you should call it a night. It's almost eleven," Tony said putting his computer to sleep.

"I've been up later, it's fine. Just give me a little hope, I might be on to something."

"Hope? JJ you've been working since seven, I gave you my hope for the day. Now get some rest." Tony had started calling me JJ a few days back. He said that he just couldn't call me Jan. That was too commonly used for girls. While on the other hand JJ wasn't. I didn't argue. I liked it and by him doing this made me feel more at home. I'm guessing it was the point.

"Fine, but you better get some too. I've heard you every now and then come down here." I made my way to the door. He raised his hands, "You've caught me. I've been staying up past my bed time."

I smiled. "Time to set a strict curfew."

He laughed. "Suppose so. Now off to bed! Go, shew! I don't want to see you down here."

"Goodness, I'm leaving. Love you too." I turned back to him and his smile was slowly fading as he turned in his chair back to the mess of papers.

I made my exit upstairs finding Jack roaming around.

"Hey stranger," I said and he looked up at me.

"Hello, Jan," he said.

"Shh, your dad might hear you not being formal and you'll have to do push-ups," I teased.

He looked down and chuckled. "It's fine, he's outside at the moment."

"Woah, did I hear someone continue a conversation? That's something for the calendars."

"Ha, ha. You should be heading off to bed, it's late," he said.

"Goodnight, goodnight! Parting is such sweet sorrow," I made a grand gesture with my arm as I made my way upstairs. "That I say goodnight til it be morrow."

"Really? Romeo and Julieting it? Little excessive don't you think?"

"You're saying this is excessive? They had just met and got married the next day. Then died three days later," I said.

He didn't say anything only shrugged.

"Well, goodnight." I ran up the stairs to my room and got in bed. Though I didn't fall asleep. Instead I started something. Something that will take care of a lot of things in the world.

Another few weeks have past turning into a month since the press conference. The Spy Boy had opened up the slightest bit to me.

Today was just another boring day. That was until Tony got a call from Fury. He was done being ignored. So Tony was packing up to head out when I walked into his lab.

"What do they need you for?" I asked.

He didn't look up, "Fury wants to assess the situation with the terrorist bombing happening all around."

"Can I come along? I might be able to help." Tony sighed. It seemed like he did want me to come, but I understood the danger of leaving.

"I can have one of the Bartons by me while we're there. Plus, they're are gonna be a bunch of other agents around. Nothing will go unnoticed."

"I don't know, Jan."

"Come on, please?"

Tony thought for a minute then finally said, "Alright fine. But Jack is with you wherever you go."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I jumped up and hugged him. "I'll be ready in five."

This was so exciting. I have read all of the specs for the Helicarrier. That thing was massive. I was hoping that Jack would give me a tour of it. When my hair was neatly in a ponytail I made my way out.

"Oh," I said, startled by the guy in front of my door. "You know you don't have to be so close all the time."

"I'm not, I'm outside your door," Jack said.

"How bout you stand at the end of the hallway over there. Its pretty lonely. And dark."

"Come on, we're ready to leave," he gave me a friendly push. He had these moments of being nice and not. It's was hard to read him. At times it seemed like he despised me.

"Someone's extra pushy today."

"No, just want to get going is all."

We walked over to an odd looking aircraft.

"It's called a Quinjet," Jack said. "We're going to fly to the Helicarrier in it."

"It's not gonna blow up when we land right?" I recalled my first encounter with the airplane that left a mark on me.

"No, don't worry. Completely safe," he said as we walked in.

"Doesn't feel that way," I mumbled. The hatch door that we just walked through was closing.

"What about Tony?"

"He's going to meet us there," Jack replied. "Have a seat." There were chairs with straps hanging from the back. I sat down fumbling with the straps. Jack unbuckled from next to me to help.

"How long's the flight?"

"Two and a half?" He looked uncertain.

"Minutes?"

"Hours." That's what I was afraid of. I paced back and forth when we were stable enough to walk around.

"Jan, if you keep walking around you're going to make a hole in the floor," Jack said.

"I'm sorry. I'm bored."

"We're almost there, just sit back down," Jack patted the seat that I was sitting in and I trudged over.

The Quinjet landed and we walked out. There were agents running around securing the wheels. A group of agents ran like what you would see in a boot camp.

"Woah, watch it," Jack grabbed my shoulders pulling me back out of the way of someone running by.

"Thanks," I said.

"Shall we go inside?" He asked.

"Sure," I followed him inside. We walked down long hallways until we stopped in a big room. Some agents were seated at different monitors. Others were walking around.

"Who let her in?"

I turned and saw Nick Fury walking toward us. I stood there frozen.

"Her father did, sir," Jack said.

"Fury, its fine," Tony said walking behind him. "She wanted to come and help."

"Come and help? Let me make this clear Stark, my Helicarrier is not a playground. I don't know what gave you the idea that it was alright for her to be brought aboard."

"Jack," I whispered to him, "I don't want to cause any problems. Just take me back home."

"What? Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes, I am." I turned my attention back to Tony and Fury.

"Alright, fine. But if she does anything, I'm placing the blame on you. Hill, are the files ready?" Fury said.

"Yes, sir." A tall women walked over to him holding a tablet. Fury took it walking away with Tony.

"So, can I still have a tour?" I asked.

"Whatever the princess wants," he mumbled. Did that really come out of the tuff boys mouth?

We walked around the bridge for quite a while. Jack was pointing to different people sitting at different monitors explaining what their jobs were.

"Those two guys are in charge of flying and that's pretty much it." By that time we made it to the front. I turned around and looked out the massive window. It was a little past midday, so the sun was to the west bringing in different shadows. Looking out to the blue beneath us reminded me of when Tony took me on my first flight.

"I'll never get tired of how everything looks when so high up," I said. Jack didn't say anything. It was annoying whenever he would leave me out like that.

"We should find Fury and your father. You did come here to help them," he walked down the center of the room to where we started.

"He's not my father. At least not my birth father," I mumbled. It felt odd to call him my dad and Pepper my mom. I knew who my real parents were through photos. Nonetheless they made me. I'm not a Stark by birth.

 **A/N: So...is it ok? Good? Amazing? Please review! I love each one I get! ;)**


	5. Chapter 5

I trudged behind Jack for a while in the maze of hallways. We finally stopped in what looked to be a lab. Tony and Fury were looking at a hologram of the U.S. with assorted bars coming out of it.

"What'd I miss?" I asked walking over to them.

"These are the heat signatures related to the one from the plane bombing," Tony explained.

"Our records show that the people not found must have been closest to it. We have found no trace of their remains," Fury said.

"What? That's impossible. There had to have been some sort of button from their clothing or pendant or something left behind. Maybe even a limb," I stated. "Pull up the reports." Fury started tapping away on a screen hanging from the ceiling. When he was done he turned it so it was facing me. Scrolling through it I found that there were no bomb shrapnel.

"Director, you might want to take a look at this. It just came in," Agent Hill walked into the room.

"Put it on screen," he said.

"Some people call me a terrorist, I consider myself a teacher. America, read for another lesson," the video began. Glimpses of different pictures came on. I had shivers creeping over my body as I watched. "In 1864 in Sand Creek, Colorado, the U.S. military waited until the friendly Cheyenne Braves had all gone hunting. Waited to attack and slaughter the families left behind and claim their land.

"Thirty-nine hours ago the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait was attacked. I-I did that. A quaint military church, filled with wives and children of course. The soldiers were out on maneuvers. The "Braves" were away." I moved over to Tony and he wrapped an arm around me.

"President Ellis, you continue to resist my attempts to educate you, sir. And now, you've missed me again. You know who I am. You don't know where I am. And you'll never see me coming."

"Barton junior, take her home. Now." Tony pushed me over to him. The video was still playing. I could pick up a few words from it. "American airlines were hijacked. The nation remains on high alert. All attempts to find the Mandarin have so far proved unsuccessful." I wish I hadn't.

"Wait, did you hear that?" I asked.

"The part about you leaving? Yes."

"Tony, it said that American Airlines were hijacked. Isn't that a bit closer to who bombed the plane?"

"JJ, it's a private airline. There's no way they could do it."

"I've got the scar to prove it. And they also had the resources to hack social media. I'm pretty sure they need to have a lot of resources to be able to do that. And if they have enough for that, what more can they do?"

"Ok, Barton, now," Tony snapped.

"Just look into it for me please." Jack shoved me out the door and we stood in the hallway.

"I really hope we don't see any more of that Mandarin dude," I said rubbing my arms. Jack started rubbing them too which shocked me.

"I know, but I'm sure they'll catch him soon," he pulled me in for a hug. I was shocked stiff. After an awkward minute I pushed myself off of him. "I, um, I forgot something in there. I'll be right back."

I quickly walked in there not wanting Tony to get super mad.

"Jan I thought-"

"Yes, I know. Do you have an extra earpiece to JARVIS?" I asked.

He reached into his pocket and tossed me it. "Thank you!" I said turning to walk out the door again.

"Now go home! And have Happy get Pepper from work," he shouted.

"I will."

When we got back in the Quinjet I turned on the earpiece and put it in my ear. "JARVIS can you hear me?" I asked.

"Loud and clear Miss. Russell. How can I be of service?"

"I want you to keep me updated on the Mandarin. Oh, and call Happy, Tony wants Pepper home."

"Will do Miss. Anything else to add?"

"Yes, did you go over the new specs I did?"

"Yes, everything seemed to be in right order," he said.

"Sweet. I'll be in the lab when I get home."

"You're going to leave me?" Jack asked.

"You can come and help. I'm just- working on something for Tony." There was no way I could tell him what I was working on. And now that meant I had to put it off again.

"No, thanks though. I'll leave all that stuff for you to mess with."

"So thoughtful of you."

When the Quinjet landed by the house I saw Pepper's car in front of the house. We walked up and I saw a giant bunny next to the doors. _You big weirdo_ I thought and smiled. I found Pepper watching the news in the living room.

"Is this why Tony wanted me home?" She asked still looking at the T.V.

"Yeah, or to see the bunny. It's hard to tell. I'm going to be down in the lab. Holler if you need me," I said. She quickly got up and gave me a hug. What's with hugs today?

"I'm glad he sent you home too," she said. I patted her back a few times, "Yeah, me too. Can you let go now? I can't breath."

"Yes, sorry. Go do what you do," she waved me off and I ran downstairs. Jack followed me down.

"Excuse the mess. Typical Stark work area. Jay, specks please?" The retro-reflective panels showed up on screen.

"So, you like?" I asked Jack showing him the new idea.

"Did you do this?"

"Yeah, with help, from Tony of cour-" my phone started to ring. I pulled it out and Summer's picture was on it. This was too much for the day. But she didn't know that. So I couldn't blame her.

"Sorry Jack it's a friend. I gotta take this." I walked over to the suits and answered. "Hey girl."

"So, how's my hot chick?" Good 'ol Summer.

"Not getting any cooler down here, how bout my fiery friend?"

"It's running low, but I still got wood. How's Cali?"

"Amazing!" I turned to see how close Jack was and took a few more steps away. "And the boys here are looking fine."

"Ooh, did you catch one?" She squealed.

"No, not really. He's my bodyguard," I grabbed an arm to one of the suits to start integrating the panels. "Listen, I have to go. You caught me in the middle of something."

"You get him girl."

"Summer! It's not that! I'm working on something for Tony."

"Sure you are. Bye Russell. Love you," she made a kissing sound and I laughed.

"Bye Wilde."

"That was interesting," Jack said as I walked back over to him.

"You heard?"

"Everything," he smirked. I could feel my face going red.

"I'm kidding. I only heard the beginning and I had no interest of hearing more."

"Smart choice." I pushed stuff around on the desk putting the arm on it. Tony last week showed me different short cuts for the suit if things went wrong. For example opening it up or accessing firepower. Things like that. I moved a couple pieces by the joint and it opened in half. Most of the pieces slid back into each other. I got up and ran to get the arm I had already started working on and the few parts I had for the panels.

Three or more hours had passed and Tony wasn't back yet. I finished the wiring in the panels. Comparing the joints and other things to the original arm. The original one was from Tony's Autonomous Prehensile Propulsion Suit. In other words, the one that he could control by certain movements he made. It was easier to take apart, go figure. I wanted this suit to have the same ability to respond to Tony's commands.

"Are you done yet?" I heard Jack whine from the couch.

"You know if you keep asking me it will just take me longer," I said looking at my masterpiece.

"Well, are you?"

I put on the arm, being careful with the cords still hooked to the computer. He looked over to me.

"Pretty," he said.

"It still needs to be painted. JARVIS fire it up," the repulser glowed showing that it was changing. The reflective panels were changing and soon I could see the desk on my arm. I moved it around and anything that was behind it showed through it.

"Ha! Jack look!" I was very excited about this. He turned from the TV and saw. Well, saw I had no arm.

"What the-"

"It works! It really works! Can I unplug it now Jay?"

"Yes, but I must warn you that the power will not last long without having a power source."

"I know. I'll be back down. Ah! This is amazing!" I ran up the stairs from the lab shouting. "Pepper, Pepper!"

When I found her she was talking to Tony in the kitchen. "You guys! Look!"

"Look at what, Hun?" Pepper asked. I motioned to my arm that they couldn't see.

"It works."

"Is that the-" Tony started.

"Yes!" I turned the panels and showed the arm. "Try having it come to you."

Tony did a motion and it folded up and flew to him landing on his arm, unfolding.

"You like?" I asked.

"Yes. Good job JJ."

"Sweet! I'm going to go down and work on the rest-"

"No. You need to get some rest. Do you realize what time it is?"

"It's only," I looked over at the oven clock. It read eleven thirty. "Oh. Well goodnight then." I went upstairs, took a nice long shower, then added what I accomplished to my project falling asleep around one. _Soon_ I thought _you will be finished soon._


	6. Chapter 6

The next day was pretty, interesting. It started at breakfast when it was only Pepper and I eating.

"You know, I was thinking. I haven't checked with Tony but I'm sure he'd be fine with it," she started.

"What?" I asked

She handed me a card. I looked up at her. "No. I can't take this. This, this is too much."

"Jan. Please. It's a gift. Go spend it! Have some fun," she smiled.

"Pepper, I-"

"Jan. Don't worry about it. Go, have fun," she said. I got up and gave her a hug. Once I let go I ran into the living room.

"Jack! Jack!" I shouted. He ran in looking around, "What? What's wrong?"

"Mall day!" I held up the card. His face went straight.

"No." He turned and started to walk away.

"Come on, please? I need a guard with me. And if you go, it wouldn't be as obvious," I pleaded. He sighed and finally agreed. I ran down to Tony's lab to grab my jacket.

I looked up to see the cars lining the back of the room. And an idea popped in my head. I searched the drawers for keys to at least one of them. I found one and clicked a button. Lights flashed and I turned to look at where they came from. I clicked it again and the lights flashed on a blue Porsche. I hopped in starting it up and driving out to the front of the house.

Jack walked out of the house and got in.

"Where'd you get this?" He asked closing the door.

"Tony's collection. You like?" I rubbed my hands around the steering wheel with a sly smile. "Off to the mall!" I pulled out of the driveway and turned onto the street.

It was about a thirty minute drive to the nearest mall. My navigator got us lost only a mile away from it.

We finally arrived to people taking pictures of us getting out of the car.

"Nice ride," some one said as I got out. I nodded and kept walking.

"I recognize you." A girl stopped in front of me chomping her gum.

"Sweet. Glad you do," I tried to walk past her but she stepped back in front.

"I saw you on TV. You were with Tony Stark," she spat. I tried to move past once again. Jack now had his arm around my shoulder. And again she blocked our path.

"Are you his new toy or something like that?"

"No. She's his family. Now, step aside," Jack said. I'm happy I made him come. We walked in and first went to the directory. I looked for stores that I knew and made my over to them.

"How long are we going to be here?" Jack asked walking behind me. I turned around and gave him a look.

"What, getting bored already?" I asked smiling.

"No, just curious."

My first stop was at a furniture store. I need to spice my room up a little bit. Jack helped me make choices but that was the extent of his input. I found a bunch of Paris things. I've always wanted to visit. It was also easier to add the decorations without painting the walls.

"What about this?" Jack pointed to a black nightstand. I walked over to look at it. That was the first thing he had suggested today. And to be completely honest, it was pretty good. I liked the style of table. The top was round then it had one leg going down that branched off to three.

"I love it. Good eye my Spy friend," I grabbed two boxes and headed to the checkout. In total I had gotten five things. An Eiffel Tower poster, two lamps for each side of my bed that had a black and white floral design, then the two nightstands.

"Are you going to have enough room for all of this in your car?" Jack asked holding the bigger boxes.

"Sure I will. I bet the car is bigger on the inside," we looked to each other then laughed.

"Yeah, that's never gonna happen," he kept on laughing. I wiped a tear from the corner of my eye.

"You know, this is the first time I've heard you laugh. To be honest, I didn't think you were able to."

"I am capable of many things. Laughing being one of them," he smiled and started heading to the exit of the mall. "Come on, let's put these in your car before you by another store."

"I didn't buy the entire store."

We walked to the car and I popped the trunk. We piled all of the boxes in it.

"I'll drive," Jack said walking to the driver side. I tossed him the keys going to the passenger side. We both got in heading back to the house. I was a tad nervous that Tony would be mad I stole one of his cars. But on the other hand, I was hungry. Apparently Jack and I shared the same thought wave for that one moment.

"Want to stop somewhere to eat?" He asked.

"Uh, sure. I think there's a little sandwich shop not to far away. Tony took me there last week." I said.

"I know where you're talking about."

"So you know where restaurants are but not the mall? What's up with that?" I looked at him slouching in my seat, resting my feet on the dash.

"I don't shop."

"Ah that would explain it. All of your stuff is SHIELD issued I assume."

"Not all of it," he turned into a parking spot by a small building with tables outside. He turned off the engine saying, "We're here."

We walked in and Jack put his name in. The wait wasn't long for a table, so we were seated in just a few minutes with a good spot too. A waiter came and took our drink order.

"When was the last time you could relax like this?" I asked looking up from the menu.

"Honestly, about two years." He didn't look up from his.

"They keep you that busy?"

"Some missions take longer than others. And some are so deep undercover you forget who you really are," he tensed up as he said it. I could see a few of his veins showing through his skin.

"Woah, Jack, I don't want to know anymore if you don't want to talk about it."

"Sorry, Jan. Just bad things coming back to bite," he looked up and I could see a mix of hurt and sadness in his eyes. But in less than a blink they were gone.

"Hey, you wanna talk, I'm here. I may not understand but I am here," I gave a warm smile to him.

"Thanks, but I can manage on my own," he sat a tad straighter and the waitress came back to take our orders.

Most of dinner was spent in silence. I watched the T.V.'s they had displayed along the walls. News reports were on every one. I looked closer to one that had a burning building showing. They were rolling someone away on a stretcher. Suddenly all of the screens showed colored bars and a symbol on top.

Then there was a voice. A voice I swore would've haunt me in my dreams the first time heard it. It was the Mandarin.

"True story about fortune cookies. They look Chinese. They sound Chinese but they are actually an American invention. That's why they're hollow, full of lies, and leave bad taste in the mouth." I got Jack's attention and point to the screen as the Mandarin continued, "My disciples just destroyed another cheap American knock-off, The Chinese Theatre. Mr. President, I know this must be getting frustrating, but this season of terror is drawing to a close. And don't worry, the big one is coming: your graduation."

Jack pulled out his wallet and dropped a twenty on the table. He grabbed my hand and we quickly left, rushing to get home. He was mumbling something under his breath as we got in the car. Most of the way home I was scared to death.

We walked through the front doors to see Tony was on the phone. Pepper nodded our direction. He turned, hung up, then walked over. I stood frozen not expecting what he would say.

"Happy's in the hospital," he looked between all three of us. I was shocked as well as Pepper. She covered her mouth and asked the question I was thinking. "How?"

"The Mandarin." He clenched his phone in his hand. "I'm going to head over there now. Junior, keep them here. I'm taking your dad."

Jack nodded in response. I walked closer to Tony as he pointed a finger at me and said, "You." I nodded slowly and said, "Me."

"Don't you ever do that again. Understand? I got worried sick."

I nodded. "Sorry. I won't." He took me into a hug which I wasn't expecting. Once he let go he walked over to Pepper and gave her a kiss.

An hour had gone by and Tony wasn't back yet. I had made myself comfy on my couch with a tub of ice cream and a movie. There was a knock at the door and then it opened. Jack sat down by my feet.

"You alright?" He asked. I kept watching the movie and said, "I don't know what to do. The Mandarin, he's..." I turned to face Jack with tears building up in my eyes. He got up and sat next to me.

"Hey, hey, you'll be fine. You're protected, Princess, nothing's going to get you." There was gunfire in the movie and it made me jump. Chris Pine and Tom Hardy were shooting something. Wasn't the first time in the movie. After all it did start with it. Soon, my eyelids started to become heavy and everything started to fade away.

"Jan." It was a faint voice in the distance. "Jan," it said again. Becoming more audible. "Janis," it was Jack. I moaned and looked up at him. He smiled down at me. "Had a nice rest?" He asked. My vision cleared and I realized that I had fallen asleep on him. I quickly sat up, "Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep." My words were slurred as they left my mouth.

"It's alright. But you should see this," he pointed the remote to the T.V. turning up the volume. It showed Tony walking out of the hospital to his car. There were many shouts as usual, but one made Tony stop and turn around.

"Is that what you want?" Tony asked. "Here's a little holiday greeting I've been want to send to the Mandarin. I just didn't know how to phrase it until now. My name is Tony Stark and I'm not afraid of you. I know you're a coward, so I decide that you just died pal. I'm gonna come get the body. There's no politics here just good old fashioned revenge. There's no Pentagon. Just you and me. And on the off chance that you're a man here's my home address: 10880 Malibu Point, 90265. I'll leave the door unlocked. That's what you wanted right?" He grabbed someone's phone and threw it against a pillar. "Bill me." Tony then got in the car and drove off. I leaned my head against the back of the couch.

"We're screwed." I stated.

"Yep," Jack said. I gave him a look and he shrugged, "What? Not my fault."

"You're not helping."

A few hours after I woke up Tony arrived. I was down in the lab working on the suits when JARVIS notified me he was here. I walked up to see him and Pepper arguing.

"Hey, how's Happy?" I asked him.

He turned to me saying, "Not good. He got hit pretty bad."

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Don't be. It's not your fault. The Mandarin is going to be sorry for messing with Iron Man's friend


	7. Chapter 7

A day had gone by and helicopters were surrounding the house. At times it got loud with how close they were. I had spent most of the time down in the lab with Tony. He worked on finding the Mandarin while I got busy with suits. I finished the reflective panel suit which I named "Sneaky". Yeah, not the best name, but it fits him.

I was sitting on the couch with my laptop working on my secret file. JARVIS really helped me with it. It was almost complete. Last night I had snuck down here and put most of it together. Tonight I would finish it up.

I sat my laptop down next to me and stretched my muscles, yawning. A nap was very over due. As well as a call to Summer. She sent me texts yesterday about what Tony said on T.V.. I promised I would call her back today.

But she beat me to it. My phone rang and I picked it up walking out of the lab.

"Hey," I said, more like whispered.

"Woah, someone's tired," she replied. I nodded and said, "Just a tad. Been working some stuff during the night."

"Is this your special project you told me about before?"

"Yeah, it is."

"So, how's it going?"

"It's good. Tony put more guards around the-"

"Jan, that's not what I mean and you know it."

I sighed and said, "I know. I haven't been getting much sleep even if I'm not staying up late working on stuff. Things are really going downhill for me. And honestly, I'm not in the mood to talk about it. How's it back by you?"

"Nelson really misses you. No surprise there. Other than we all miss you, nothing new has happened."

I had a smile on my face from hearing that. "Aw, Nelly. Maybe after all this I can come visit. Oh, and there's a charity dance that we might go to, I can see if Tony would let me bring you along."

"You know I hate dresses."

"Oops, forgot sorry."

"Well I have to get going. The boys and I are going swimming soon. I have to get ready. Talk to you later Russell."

"Later Wilde."

I moped about for most of the day. Watching anything but the news, working on my project, and also having Jack make lunch. That was the best part. I wiped off the crumbs from the sandwich that fell on my keyboard watching JARVIS do his thing on it. It was cool but weird. Jack sat down after taking care of his plate. I swear he's the fastest person ever to eat a sandwich.

"Go ahead and change it I'm not watching this anymore." I heard him grab the remote to click through the channels. I made some adjustment to what I was working on and it was finally complete. I sighed in relief, closing my computer, and putting it on the coffee table. Jack was still looking so I decided to get some more tea. I wasn't a huge fan of coffee so I got my caffeine elsewhere.

Pepper likes tea now too because of me. We kept a stash by the stove, and I have to admit, it's a pretty good stash.

I filled my mug up with water and stuck it in the microwave to warm up. It was the fastest way. While it was warming up I looked to see what we had and grabbed a black tea. Grabbing my mug I walked back to where Jack was. He was done channel surfing and was watching something I wasn't familiar with.

After a few episodes of being completely lost I gave up and made my way down to the lab. I'm sure Tony would have lots of input. I unlocked the door which was tricky with a laptop and tea on one arm. Tony and Pepper were talking which wasn't out of the norm, but Tony not working, that was.

"...we have to tell her-" was all I heard as I came up to them.

"Tell who what?" I asked. Pepper looked at Tony and he sighed.

"It was a while back, quite a few years back actually, but nonetheless the happiest day of our lives," Tony started.

"Woah, woah, woah, what are you-"

Tony interrupted me with, "Just let me finish. My weapons business was booming then and I had married Pepper a few years before I got stuck in a cave and got this," he tapped on his arc. "But four months before I left we found out about something. Pepper was pregnant. When I was in that cave they were all I could think about. I got back and two months after on a hot spring day, our little girl came into the world."

"She was just a little thing. A week early and very frail. But Pepper and I didn't know if it would be safe enough for us to have her. So we made the toughest decision of our lives. We had to give her up. A scientist named Henry Russell had been married longer than Pepper and I. He was also a very close friend of mine so I trusted him. And we had to give her to him. We told him to send her to a place where she would be safe but not lost to the world. It all happened before her first birthday. We missed her first steps, first words, first friends, first everything. Never could help her with projects or school troubles. We weren't there for you, Jan."

I couldn't move. I couldn't say anything. My brain went on shutdown mode. I had happiness going through me but at the same time anger was boiling up. I wanted to scream and real show how upset I was for the fact that they gave me away, yet I was happy I had my real parents. Sure giving me away was to keep me safe, but they could have told me sooner. I knew the "Russells" weren't my real family. I never fit in. I had my hands doing some kind of work. When I was four they put me into taking piano lessons so I would put my fingers to use then and not on the toaster oven or anything like that.

Pepper had tears in her eyes and it looked like Tony was on the verge of doing the same. And what came out of my mouth didn't help, "You lied to me, my entire life, you lied to me?"

"It was to protect you, you have to understand. It hurt us to let you go. We lost a piece of us the day we said goodbye." Tony had tears now. And so did I. I put my stuff down on the other side of Tony then hugged them both at once.

Turns out I am a Stark after all.

 **A/N: Oh snap! Did you see it coming? Sorry for not updating often. School's getting in the way like normal. Oh well. At least I didn't abandon the story. Let me know what y'all think so far! ;)**


	8. Chapter 8

After our little huggy feely moment I pulled out my computer to show Tony my project. Wanting to avoid the awkwardness that I knew was going to farm. I opened it up and on the screen and specs for a small, female version of the Iron Man armor showed.

"You did all this?" He asked.

"Well, with a little help from JARVIS." I smiled and I walked over to the sofa, bending underneath and grabbing a blue metal hand. When I grabbed it I put it on and it fit my hand perfectly. Probably because it was made for my hand.

"You built it by yourself?" He asked.

"Yeah, but JARVIS painted it blue. Everything else I did by hand." I explained.

"Is that the only piece that's made?" Tony asked.

"I'll leave you two geniuses to your work," Pepper left popping a kiss on my head. I smiled to her in response.

"I have the helmet and chest built. But that's it. Still a working progress." He walked over and inspected the armor I had on.

"Followed my designs I'm assuming?"

"Yeah, for the most part."

"Oh! I just remembered," Tony went over to a table and came back with a white box.

"There's a charity dance that Pepper and I always go to. It's coming up in a week and it would be a pleasure if you could join us." He handed me the box and I opened it up. There sat a black mask with hints of blue in it. The ends of the mask were shaped  
like a butterfly wing. I took it out and put to the side. The dress underneath had a heart shaped top with no sleeves. I pull it out and held it out in front of me.

It was short in the front then got longer in the back. I looked at Tony and smiled, "Of course I'll go with you guys. Thank you for the dress. It's beautiful."

I hugged him then made my way up to my room with the box. Tony had started working again after I hugged him. When I got to my room a helicopter flew by the window.

"A little close don't you think JARVIS?" I asked him as I walked by the window it flew by.

"Miss. Russell there seems to be a projectile heading toward the house. And it doesn't appear to be a helicopter," he said.

"What? Show me," he put it on the built in screen on the window. Sure enough something was heading straight here. I zoomed in on it and it was...oh no.

"JARVIS put it on my phone!" I shouted as I ran down stairs. I pulled it out from my pocket making sure it showed up. "Tony! Pepper! Come here! Now!" I shouted running into the living room. Pepper had the news on and it was showing it.

"What? What's wrong?" Pepper asked. I pointed to the T.V. screen. Pepper gasped and we all looked at the big window and before we knew it we were flying backwards from the explosion. Tony and I hit a wall while Pepper was lying on the floor not too far  
away. I shook my head trying to clear my vision and grasp my surroundings. Everything was black and burned. I looked to my left and patted out the fire on my clothes. Tony got up and helped me stand. The second I was on both feet the floor began to  
crack. Tony hustled to Pepper while doing a motion that ended with him pointing towards me. Before I knew it the Iron Man suit was forming around me. The floor began to move, sliding down with Tony and Pepper. As if my body had a mind of its own,  
I quickly grabbed the closest hand I could reach. More missiles were being fired shaking the entire structure of the house. Pieces of the ceiling started falling. I could hear small ones bouncing off of the armor.

I flipped the mask up so I could see better. "Tony, you're slipping. Even with the armor I can't hold the both of you." Sweat started to form on my face. I can't lose them. Not after I just found them. My real, actual, biological parents. I started to  
slide forward from the weight.

"Dad, please, please hang on. I can't lose you guys. I-I can't," I choked back the tears that we're starting to form.

"You won't ever lose us Jan. We love you," his hand started slipping even more and I tried my very hardest to catch it. I tried with every bone in my body to save them, yet I failed.

"Mom! Dad!" The scream ripped my throat. Reaching further and further until I realized I was sliding forward. Someone grabbed my foot and another person grabbed my other one.

"Mr. Stark are you alright?" I heard Coulson ask. I turned around and looked up at him tears staining my face.

"Oh, Jan," he said sadness written on his face. He hugged me as I began to cry more. But the sound of popping brought us back to reality. We scrambled ourselves up onto our feet and out of the crumbling mansion.

The second we got to safety everything fell from the cliff into the water. I collapsed to my knees. In complete shock of what just happened. Of what I had just lost. It had to be a dream. Nothing like this could ever happen. Soon I would just wake up  
right? That's what will happen. I'll wake up and I'll have both of them and everything will be back to normal. Right? The minute I looked behind me and saw the fire trucks I knew it would never happen.

I stood up and hit the arc reactor causing the suit to open up. It was a lucky guess on my part. I had no idea what other modifications To-Dad had made to it compared to the other suits. When it was fully off I sat back down and continued crying. I felt  
someone put a blanket on me. I looked up to find Coulson standing above me. I gave a half hearted smile as he sat down. He pulled me in for another hug as I cried in his shoulder.

The sun was close to setting when someone approached Coulson. He got up leaving me by myself again. Less than two minutes later he came back asking me to go with him so the paramedics could look over me.

"You have a slight concussion, Miss. Stark. Nothing a little down time won't cure. Take it easy, no rough activities to worsen it. And have someone with you just in case." He turned to his bag putting what he used back in it.

I looked up and gave him a quiet thank you. Coulson then walked over to talk to him. I sat there and watched everything happen. Things weren't as fuzzy anymore. Fire men were going through the wreckage still. SHIELD agents were scanning what was left  
of my parents' beautiful home.

An agent started to walk towards me. It took a minute for me to recognize that it was Jack.

"Are you alright?" He asked sitting next to me on the back of the ambulance.

"Hm, let's see. My parents died before my eyes, I have no home, and oh one of our bodyguards wasn't there to help. I'm dandy," I snapped.

"Hey, Jan, I'm sorry I wasn't there to help. I was called back to HQ for something. And Coulson said I can take you to a hotel as they clean up the wreckage. Will that be alright with you?"

I nodded and started crying once again. Jack put an arm around me trying to help.

"Do you want to head to the hotel?" He asked.

I nodded again.

 **A/N: I am so sorry for taking so long to update. I'm going to try to work for having** ** _at least_** **one chapter a month. So please bear with me. I love you all! ;)**


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